The overall unemployment rate in the Kingdom fell by 0.7 percentage points y-o-y to 2.8% in 1Q 2025, according to Gastat’s latest labor market report (pdf). Unemployment for Saudis fell by 1.3 percentage points y-o-y to an all-time low of 6.3%, while the rate for expats declined by 0.3 percentage points to 0.8%. Meanwhile, the employment-to-population ratio rose to 66.3% in 1Q 2025, compared to 63.7% in the same period last year.

On a quarterly basis, overall unemployment, Saudi unemployment, and expat unemployment all fell by 0.7 percentage points compared to 4Q 2024.

Saudi women drove unemployment down: The unemployment rate for Saudi women reached a record low of 10.5% in 1Q 2025, marking a decrease of 3.7 percentage points y-o-y. For Saudi men, the unemployment rate slightly went down by 0.2 percentage points y-o-y to 4%.

MEANWHILE- Saudi female youth (aged 15-24) saw a 0.7 percentage-point increase in their employment-to-population ratio to 14.6%, while their labor force participation rate increased by 1.1 percentage points to 18.4%. Meanwhile, the employment-to-population ratio for Saudi male youth decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 29.2%, while their labor force participation rate fell by 0.8 percentage points to 33.0%.

Saudis are seeking employment more actively: The most commonly used job search method was directly applying to employers, used by 75.8% of jobseekers, followed by using the national unified employment platform Jadarat (74.6%), and posting or updating resumes on professional and social networks (64.5%).

REMEMBER- The government established a new unemployment target of 5% for Saudi nationals by 2030, after meeting the original goal of 7% late last year.

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